


May I...

by Anonymous



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Atypical School Faculty Vacations, Boys with feelings, Except he totally is, Ezra isn't a closeted creche master dammit!, Future AU, M/M, Rex is a master level troll, Sooo much dirty talk, also life is so much easier when they're both getting laid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-02-09 17:02:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12892617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It's time to acknowledge the elephant in the living room before it literally crushes one or both of them





	1. May I kiss you?

“Kanan, what in kark are you doing here?” Ezra’s voice isn’t indignant or even particularly angry - though would have been completely normal reactions in most circumstances. Instead, right now Kanan’s former Padawan sounds something much closer to stunned and just a little bit panicked then anything else. He hasn’t even risen yet from where he’d been kneeling on the floor across the room when Kanan first interrupted his now regularly purchased every other weekend session by letting himself in quietly through the motel room’s main entrance. 

When Kanan had first come into the room Ezra’s eyes had still been locked on the carpet in front of him, his palms resting upright on his folded under knees. The posture's not so much meditative as obviously waiting in what looks like clear supplication. Now as Kanan stands in front of him for several long seconds, his lips twitch in silent contemplation, as he quickly adds or shuffles around a couple of things in his own mental map. And then he reaches up with one hand to carefully undo the fasteners of his shoulder guard.

“Get up please Ezra, if you would. I’d like you to come over here and help me if you don't mind?” He’s careful to make it clear in his tone that it’s not so much an order as it is a genuine request.

The twenty six year old still instantly complies - just a little bit dazedly- climbing up and onto to his feet before reaching out to accept the freed piece of armor from Kanan's outstretched hand and setting it gently on the table next to the main window. All the while shifting back and forth with nervous energy on his bare feet.

Ezra's mouth opens and closes several times as he stands there, but the younger man still can’t apparently seem to find words at the moment, so Kanan contents himself to let him stew a little while longer, while the older Jedi first sits down and then pulls off his boots one by one, and then tugs off both his tunic and his undershirt from over his head. Finally after just a little bit of effort, he is down to simply his pants and his boxers - two easily removable layers away from completely naked. Much like Ezra - who's only wearing a soft pair of black boxer briefs at the moment. 

Ezra still isn’t saying anything, though he also doesn’t read as particularly confused or frightened anymore either. He’s still clearly a little bit shocked right now, yes, as well as more than a little bit uncertain as to how to proceed at the moment, but then Kanan supposes that anyone would feel that way in the younger Jedi’s circumstances. Ezra’s also involuntarily hardening beneath his boxers judging by the overall feel of him, whether because of sheer nerves or genuine attraction or some potent mixture of the two of them mixed together at present.

Kanan doesn’t know yet which is actually responsible for Ezra's growing arousal, but he wouldn’t be here at this point, offering what he’s committed himself to offering and finally acknowledging what Rex has taken to calling their planet sized desperately needed conversation, if Kanan weren't also rapidly approaching the exact same physical state at the moment.

It isn’t as if Kanan doesn’t already know that he’s wanted after all - and badly. Regardless of how good Ezra has gotten at hiding the fact politely from both Kanan and the rest of the world in their newest phase of personal transition. Ezra has kept quiet about his finally discovered attraction to Kanan for well over two years now, a little out of fear of upsetting their proverbial apple cart, a lot out of awkwardness and most importantly of all, at as far as Kanan can tell anyway, out of the younger man's very real respect for Kanan’s sharp albeit finally healing grief in the wake of Hera’s death almost five years ago in an engineering accident.

Because after all, as Kanan knows all too well looking back, his former Padawan had initially essentially lost Hera and Kanan both in the immediate aftermath of said accident, thanks to Kanan's sheer depth of grief, anger and depression in the wake of the accident. Only more recently – in the last eighteen months or so in particular - had Ezra really gotten Kanan back in any real sense of the term when Kanan had tracked him down here to the school. And risking any further loss of miracles that Ezra hadn’t dared to ask for to begin with and didn't expect to ever be granted again was simply not something that the younger Jedi would do in this or any other lifetime. Unless Kanan is the one to actually finally speak up and at least try and start this conversation, then the two of them’ll spend the literal rest of their lives pretending there is no metaphorical pachyderm crowding out their living room at the moment.

Which Kanan, finally, is ready to acknowledge feels like an absolutely unacceptable option. Because after all, they are neither of them who they had once been anymore, are they? Ezra hasn’t been Kanan’s student now for more than half a decade. He's got his own little gaggle of force sensitive students following him around when he’s not away on one of these semi regular, 'sleep and decompress weekends.' Though yes, the younger man’ll also always be Kanan’s Padawan too in some ways - they will always have that history between them, always have each other's esteem, devotion and literal backs, albeit now in a very different context.

That doesn’t change the fact that their link has evolved over the past year in particular from one between master and student to one of essentially pair-bonded work partners: two men who work and play and essentially live out their lives in the day to day all but joined at the hip. Likewise the dynamic of their personal relationship has slowly shifted over time as time made Ezra less and less needy or dependent, making room for the younger Jedi's eventual physical and mental maturity. They’re equals now, and essentially unspoken life partners as part of the faculty here on the campus. And Kanan is well aware by now that that *isn’t* going to change anytime soon, well not if either of them have anything at all to say about it anyway.

Which, at the heart of the matter, is the main reason that the two of them are standing in this room at the moment, at least as far as Kanan is concerned anyway. Because yes, even if he’d been stubborn about realizing how his feelings for Ezra had changed at first, he does in fact love Ezra Bridger. Probably nearly as much as Ezra Bridger loves him. He wants Ezra too, and he’s clearly not alone in that wanting - hasn't been for quite awhile now. So really why wouldn’t the two of them both end up here? After all, time pushes forward, whether grief wants to allow it to or not. It’s just the nature of life. Those who love well the first time around will almost inevitably heal and then go on to love again given a reasonable chance. That's a proof of a wide open heart not any indication of any kind of lack of loyalty in either of them.

And who else but Ezra truthfully, is ever going to end up more fundamentally a part of Kanan’s life? Muchless be so inexpressibly important to Kanan just on a general basis. Who else experiences the world in a more similar way? With whom else will Kanan ever have so much so fundamentally in common?

He and Ezra - if this actually happens -well the two of them won’t be conventional, no. But then again they never really have been, have they? And that’s always been one of their strengths… Well that and their mutual ability to both adapt and remain open to the changes of life minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day .

It is time, Kanan knows, for him to finally metaphorically kark or get off the kriffing pot. To stop pussyfooting around the issue while seeking out the exact right moment to bring up the topic and just settle instead for making them both actually talk about all the things they’re making an artform out of not actually saying. Because frankly stated it’s been more than three months now, and Kanan’s growing increasingly sick by theweek of seeing Ezra keep coming home, hollow eyed and seemingly empty at the end of these karking ‘stress relief’ weekends of his, bruised by other peoples’ hands, but still starving even so just for basic peace and emotional connection. It's time for Kanan in particular to actually acknowledge the elephant in the living room before it literally crushes one or both of them

The kid is clearly paying too much right now in the hopes of slaking a hunger that intruth he’s not even touching. Because whether Ezra is prepared to admit it right nowor not – to himself or anyone else, the promise of a simple hard spanking is clearly not what actually brings the kid out here seeking company on these weekends. If it were, then getting said spankings as he has been should have been sufficient to settle down some of the younger Jedi's constantly compounding restlessness. Which it is most definitely not. Instead, Ezra’s been getting worse and worse in the aftermath of every one of these trips into town. 

Indeed, more of the life seems to slowly bleed out of thee twenty six every time that he visits to this and then comes back, and it’s far past time they at least attempt to address the ‘why’ of that, Kanan figures, before Ezra ends up shattering something in himself other than the mental and emotional break that he's actually seeking.

“Kanan. Look, I’m not mad. Surprised that you're here, definitely yeah. But right now I just really need you to stop looking so karking cryptic and actually talk to me. Because I can't...well okay, I don't as a habit try and just read you mind” Ezra’s words interrupt Kanan’s long string thoughts finally, his low voice just the slightest bit breathless.

Kanan reaches out a hand to cup the younger man’s cheek in response to the very real worry in his tone. His own words are soft when he finally speaks up but his voice is firm with promise when he finally finds the right tactic, he hopes, for continuing this conversation.

“I would like to kiss you right now, Ezra. Unless you specifically tell me that you want me not to, anyway. Because yes, I do know that this is happening without much warning at all. At least from you perspective at this point. I realize this was not on your expected itinerary this weekend. If you do want me to stop then it’s no problem, Ezra – I promise you that there’ll be absolutely no hard feelings, no pouting or other sorts of punishment from my end. The two of us will just get up and we'll get dressed, and then we'll go find a diner or cantina or wherever - someplace more neutral where we can finish this conversation … I’ll buy the food or the whiskey or whatever else may be required, and all I’ll ask from you is that in return your own ongoing plans for the weekend be delayed until after said conversation is over. " Kanan shrugs a little, "We'll just call it our own version of non-judgementally clearing the air, and giving me the chance to address a few concerns about the last few months that I've been having”

“…And if I don’t tell you to stop, Kanan?” Ezra’s voice is whisper soft, a little breathless when he finally speaks up. Kanan smiles, then leans forward carefully, resting his forehead against the younger man’s for just a heartbeat or so before speaking up softly once again, his voice both warm with affection and rich with tantalizing promise.

“Then you’ll *definitely* be getting a kiss, and if it’s as good as we both suspect it will be, then probably a karking hell of a lot more than that assuming you're game. Starting with me stripping you out of your boxers right here and right now and pulling you down over my knee, Ezra, for a round or three of the type of activities that usually bring you out here.”

Ezra shudders hard at those words, his pupils blowing wide in reaction. His lips fail utterly to suppress what amounts to a desperately needy whimper in reply. “Kanan, I….you don’t actually have to…I mean normal fine, if that’s not your…”

“Oh believe me, it’s my ‘thing’ Ezra." Kanan cuts the offer off gently, "Always has been if I’m completely honest about it. Even though yes, if it’s been a number of years since I’ve really been with a partner who’s as fond of this kind of 'playtime' as I am. Though Ezra, if we do go there tonight, then let me be perfectly clear about a couple of things. If we're going to start down this road, then you’ll need to pick a safeword before we start, and you’ll be expected to actually use it. Because you’re going to need it if I do this right -especially under these circumstances. I am no ignorant, polite, careful escort, unlike the ones that you’ve been paying to show up here. I have a pretty good idea what it is that you are actually chasing when you come out here on these weekends. I know full well what you're scrabbling toward so desperately and I know - or at least suspect, what it will actually take to actually get you there. Which means that the night will only start with you face down over my lap, Ezra if we get to that juncture. It sure as kark doesn’t end with you there. Leaving you red and sore and hard as a rock is just the beginning.”

Kanan's hand goes suddenly to the front of Ezra’s boxers then, cups him lightly for just a couple of seconds, “If you get hard when I spank you Ezra, then I’m actually going to do something about it, do you understand me? If you get hard when I spank you then afterward I'm going to roll you over onto your back on the mattress, slip a cock ring on your dick if that's what's needed to help you hold off, and I'm going play with you for a couple of hours, while you squirm and whimper and whine in reaction. If you get hard like I think you will when I put you over my knee, then afterward I'm going to edge you until you're practically weeping. I’m going to open you up slowly with three of my fingers and play with your karking prostate until you are literally sobbing you’re so desperate to have me actually inside you. And after that Ezra, I'm finally going to fuck you - slow and deep and so damn completely that you probably won’t be able to make it back off of your belly again until next the morning. At which point, I’ll feed you breakfast, Ezra and then if we're both still not too wrecked after the actual night before, I’ll probably put you over my knee and spank you until you're hard yet again.”

“Kark Kanan!” Ezra’s reply to that is a guttural choking sound, as well as a desperate flare of near panic down their link, and then simultaneously both men are reaching out abruptly in order to wrap tightly around the base of Ezra’s cock and squeeze hard in order to cut off the onrushing threat of immediate and completely unexpected orgasm.

Kanan’s hand gets there first, feeling the way that Ezra’s whole body jerks in response. Feeling the heat of Ezra's skin even through the soft fabric of his boxer's still between them. “No.” He commands the younger man softly. Stern but not really cruel in his demands. Simply expecting– no demanding- obedience, in this one small things. His voice is warm as he speaks, his tone thick like rich velvet. “You don’t get to come yet Ezra, do you hear me? Not until after I’ve finished spanking you. Not until I’ve turned you to literal rubble over my lap. You’re getting a real meal this time, not just another karking snack like the past few months. Not something 'passable' that will only leave you more hungry in the end.”

This isn’t about just whetting either of their appetites, after all, Kanan figures, but about finally scratching Ezra’s damn itch hard enough that it actually stops torturing the younger man for a little while at least. Though no, Kanan isn’t implying that it will have to do so completely or forever. Not after Ezra's lived better than half of his half starved in one manner or another. Kanan just intendeds to push him hard enough that when they're actually done for the weekend and the two of them finally leave Ezra can finally stop hungering for awhile afterwards. Because damn it but the younger man deserves to finally be at something near to actual peace again.

Because yes, Kanan has figured out by now that this entire issue issue has only been escalating more and more for Ezra in the most recent days. He just wishes that he knew why exactly it's suddenly become such a problem. Kanan wishes he knew at this point what had actually kicked all of this off, and turned a man who was usually contentedly nearly entirely celibate into someone so damn hungry. Because there had to have been some kind of catalyst for all of this, given Ezra's rate of escalation, and Kanan is still more than a little irked at the moment that he initially completely missed noticing it.

The man whose cock he’s still holding chuckles softly as if in response to that thought in Kanan's own mind, at the exact same time that Ezra whimpers slightly at the pressure still being exerted by his former master’s hand, unable to resist the urge to gently roll his hips forward for the pleasure or the pain that brings him in the moment. And then Kanan realizes, more than a little bit shocked that Ezra had probably all but literally heard that question verbatim out of his own mind, before Ezra was able to adequately reinforce his mental shielding, without any need at all for Kanan to actually say anything. 

The power of Ezra’s mindscape literally crackles for a moment, and oh kriff, Kanan’s eyes widen slightly as understanding finally dawns on him. 

Because of course - Kanan should have realized by now – since he's at least seen hints of it multiple time over the past couple months during their various missions - not to even mention when the two of them are sparring. Ezra’s power levels have been gradually increasing over the past six or so months as they sometimes do at this age for human and near Jedi, and thus his force gifts including his empathy are also swarming. 

And particularly for a person with a strong connective bent like Ezra did? Kanan smirks a little wryly to himself in acknowledgement, because well, for the twenty six year old – who’s always been more skin hungry then not, the results are actually completely predictable. Ezra has got to be nearly starving right now for any kind of real connection that he can possibly get. He wants sex of course – because increased libido is generally a natural effect of increased overall force power in these situations. (Kanan’s always considered it the Living Force’s ultimate personal joke really considering the Jedi's elevation of the practice of abstinence.) As well as a hunger for touch just in general. But the problem in this particular situation is that when it comes to seeking out any type of physical affection he and Ezra both have always tended toward both restraint and more than a little reticence. 

Which means that his former Padawan can’t just go seeking what he most craves right now even within their small circle of friends at the school - he can't start trolling for random cuddles, without risking some distinctly embarrassing physical reactions if he does or raising some seriously awkward personal questions. And then, to make things even more awkward than even just that, Ezra’s dominant sexual proclivities appear to be distinctly more kinky then they are unexciting - at least for now anyway. And Kanan knows full well that there’s an enormous difference in this kind of situation between finding a sexual partner who’d enjoy a casual roll in the hay over the course of a single weekend and actually finding one who’s comfortable with the notion of involving themselves in something like full on regular painplay 

Kanan had been surprised to realize, at least initially anyway, that Ezra was seeking out professional pain play partners during his weekends away at all. In large part because Kanan's always had trouble imagining thanks to his own personal history with the same kind of activity that a person not equally interested in such activities for lustful reasons would be all that enjoyable as a bed partner for any empath. But Kanan had clearly missed the obvious in terms of really understanding the nuances of this particular situation. Because while yes, Ezra does appear to have an absolutely genuine love of spanking he also seems to have a clear bent toward sexual submissiveness just in general. How much of a inclination Kanan isn’t really quite sure just yet, but frankly speaking there is no time to find out quite like the present. 

Which is why his hand finally slowly releases Ezra’s cock, now that he’s certain the kid’s not in imminent danger of coming anymore. Though judging by the look on the younger Jedi's face and the way that his pupils are still blown wide with arousal and it’s accompanying sister excitement, it wouldn't take much right now to get him to the knife's edge again.

Kanan can’t resist smiling just a little bit wickedly then, as he steps deliberately closer, bending forward just far enough to murmur softly in Ezra's ear. “So, are you going to be able to make it a little while longer without any help, Ezra? Or should I be getting out that cock ring I mentioned earlier just as a helpful precaution? You know…assuming that I'm right and I'm about to actually get that kiss? Because I mean it, Ezra – you are going to have to wait to come for a long time if this happens. Our itinerary tonight involves spanking then edging then fucking…and then *if you’re good* Ezra, I'm going to follow all of that up by making you come for me so many times in a row that you literally can’t anymore. We’re going to drain your hypothetical tank dry tonight, do you understand me, before I finally decide that we’re done unless you safe word me.” 

“I’m...I'm not really sure that reaching 'done' even possible right now, Kanan.” Ezra grits out after a moment or two with a hungry little, rocking himself forward into the heat of Kanan’s hands, his legs, no kriff his whole body shuddering in anticipation of everything Kanan is promising.

Kanan chuckles low in his throat. “Ezra, just for the record, it’s generally a really bad idea to challenge me that way in this particular kind context unless you literally *want* to end up a whimpering ball of pleasure all weekend long. All you're doing with that kind of talk is making it very likely that you're literally going to be limping by the end of the evening.” 

Ezra just shrugs a little, before blushing hard, “I’m just warning you that it’s less like a spigot that can be turned on and off then it’s like a karking river lately in terms of trying to shut the need down. Though yes, I’ll admit that I’ve mostly been trying to divert or blockade the problem, err, manually for the most part… Well aside from these occasional weekend play sessions.”

“Do you and the escorts you've paid to come out here ever actually…” Kanan asks Ezra then, completely noncondemning in the question. Because it’s really not his place to judge what's happened up until now so long as Ezra’s sure that it’s all been mutually safe, consensual and sane with him and his partners and no ones being hurt, used or otherwise damaged. Though yes, also for the record Kanan has no intention of sharing Ezra Bridger with anyone else once he's actually got him.

Ezra shakes his head again, “No. Though a couple of them have offered once or twice if I wanted to change up the game plan halfway through the evening. With the service that I prefer to use most of the time, Kanan the rate’s basically the same either way.”

“Why haven't you?” Again Kanan’s just curious when he asks, not in any way judging.

The younger man shrugs, “Because my mental shielding’s iffy right now at odd moment’s, Kanan, so too much actual skin to skin contact with a non-force sensitive who can't shield their mind seems a little rude or risky these days – especially if I’m not properly focused. I’m not afraid of hurting anyone or anything like that, , but frankly it's kind of a mood killer when you start picking up other people's thoughts involuntarily especially in that kind of situation and their either bored or making grocery lists for later or something. It’s why, every time that I come here I request that we start out each session with me leaning over either the dresser or the end of the bed.”

Kanan nods in complete understanding, droppings his hand to his side. “And let me guess, … you’ve also been having them use various implements and talk to you while they do their work, but you've also asked them as much as possible to not use their bare hands?”

Ezra nods, “It just seems like right now that's my safest available option.”

And until now? Kanan acknowledges it probably has been. But kriff - no wonder Ezra’s been getting more and more frustrated every time he comes out here. Because even if the younger Jedi can come just from receiving a spanking alone – which has yet to actually be established – the younger man may after all just be taking care of himself afterwards when his paid company has excused themselves instead. Regardless, Ezra might as well still be utter lyalone in most senses of the word during these ongoing weekends. Because after all he’s not letting his partners close enough to him to even sense if he’s in fact actually pleasing them as well. Ezra may get hard off the as well pain when he's spanked yes, but for a true sexual submissive the encounters are still absent even the slightest bit of meaningful emotional context or other kinds of connection he might otherwise get from serving or being good for someone. Which no doubt makes these trips to town temporarily relieving initially at least, but in the long term the whole arrangement must be pretty unsatisfying.

“Ezra, unless you have any real objection, for now at least, I think that the only thing you’re going to be feeling when you go over my knee is going to be my hand. And you WILL be going over my lap and nowhere else but there while I'm in control here.” Because unless Kanan misses his guess Ezra won’t really require anything more than that genuine closeness to diffuse his current problem, well other than maybe a cock ring occasionally depending on the younger man's ability to control himself/enjoyment of edging, in order for Kanan to make things, well, MORE than pleasant for the both of them. 

Because yes, as Ezra will no doubt pick up on the moment the younger man relaxes enough to let his own gaze fall further south, the kid *really* doesn’t need to worry or feel like he’s twisting Kanan’s arm when it comes to this sort of play in the bedroom. The older Jedi is more than just on board he's piloting the ship in terms of this particular kink.

Kanan kriffing loves sensation play – kark he thinks he always had. He absolutely loves the way that it always make his partners squirm, the way he gets slowly and utterly to undo them. It’s pure serendipity really, that Ezra’s this turned on by spanking in particular. Because Kanan’s always been a switch yeah – has always been what most folks would call conveniently eclectic. ( Though Hera, by her own nature back when she’d still been alive had preferred domming nine times out of ten to the opposite when they were feeling particularly adventurous. Not that he'd ever felt any need to complain in the slightest either about that.)

As Kanan had just said to Ezra though, he's eclectic. And a happy enthusiastic partner of any incarnation is the type that he’s always liked best personally in his bed.

Topping though - or domming, or both for that matter, has never been a particular burden for Kanan. If anything just the opposite really. It’s a very very good fit for his own natural bent toward inquisitiveness most of the time, and his love of flirtation. Not to mention his natural preference whenever possible for stopping to savor most things. Kanan karking loves figuring out what exactly makes his partners tick in bed. Loves exploring and learning to play their minds and their bodies both like a flesh and blood instrument that properly coaxed into the right pitch and rhythm, ends up producing beautiful music for the enjoyment of both of them. Kanan likes stretching out the process of foreplay whenever he's given the chance – likes teasing and tempting and pushing the limits of both himself and his partners both, likes making people wait, kriff likes making his bed partners literally whimper and bed as often as he possible can, just to make the final release of orgasm all that much sweeter in the end. 

Kanan grins at that particular thought, casting his mind out toward Ezra's own and practically radiating smug heat and lusty promise. Because he is going to reduce his lover to a quivering pool of satiated jelly by the time that he is finally done with him tonight if given half a chance. He's going to literally wreck Ezra Bridger every damn way he can possibly manage it And best of all he really, really doesn't think that Ezra will be at all coplaining.

“So…may I kiss you please, Ezra?” Kanan asks the question yet again, just officially for the record, one last time.

And the younger man? Responds to the request by all but tackle-kissing him.


	2. May I ditch you to go kid hunting?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 is in progress...a little expansion in the meantime. 
> 
> Next up. Discussions, getting laid and Ezra is not a freaking closeted Creche Master Damn it!

"So...when are you and Ezra next going to be headed out on one of your little weekend...err...excursions?"

Kanan pauses for a very long moment in very genuine and very pained silence.

"Rex?" He asks very carefully, "Why in force should I not be currently mentally blocking out this entire conversation?"

The former clone trooper snorts into his drink. "Don't be such a school marm, for kriff's sake. Look, there was a vote in the break room while most of the students were eating and I apparently got elected. Because Ezra's been getting progressively more and more tightly wound over the past couple of weeks if you haven't noticed thanks to your currently divergent schedules, and the rest of the staff are getting increasingly worried about his obvious levels of mounting crazy-backed exhaustion."

"He'll be fine Rex." Kanan takes another long sip of his Caf. "Just give him another week or so until the current term actually wraps up. It's just been harder for the both of us this time around because we both ended up hideously overscheduled, and as you already know Ezra tends to fight admitting that he's clearly both overworked and overcommited when that sort of thing happens."

There's a pause for a moment or so, then Rex speaks up again, "I still don't know why you two aren't just sharing a set of rooms at this point, Kanan. I mean I'll assume that at first it was because it was easier generally for you to navigate in a familiar place rather than because either of you are actually stupid enough to actually believe that the rest of us don't know by now that your personal relationship has recently significantly changed. Also, because I know karking well that Ezra's not going to mention this to you without a knife to his throat Kanan, but you should probably also know that he's been sleep walking at least five nights out of of the last seven. I found him twice wandering the corridors myself. Ashlyn found him at least once as well. Not to even mention that he's barely eating half the time at all staff breakfast. Kayt's getting worried enough by all of it that she's threatening to call up involve Sabine some time soon if there isn't at least one attempt by someone at actual intervention.":

Kanan winces hard - imagining the likely response such a call would net him in terms of com-calls from the currently on sabatical Mandalorian. He'd promised Sabine nine cycles ago before she left to visit her parents that he'd keep and eye on Ezra while she was gone. A job she now seems to pass around like a benevolent dictator now that Hera's gone as some kind of nearly sacred duty. Probably because whether the Kid likes it at this point in his life or not, to the the rest of the Specter Crew, Ezra will always be the metaphorical baby of the family until all the suns literally burn out in the sky. Never mind that the kid is question is now an accredited teacher at age 27.

Still..what Rex just clued him in on...the lack of regular eating and the uptick in sleepwalking. It's all cause for genuine concern - because Ezra Bridger not eating on a regular basis is like Ezra Bridger not breathing, and historically speaking Kanan knows that Ezra's most likely to sleep walk only after he starts having particularly vivid or long lasting clusters of force visions.

Kanan clearly needs to have another talk with Kayt - who usually handles most of their daily scheduling, about keeping a closer eye on their proposed quarterly teaching schedules when they come out next time around, since though yes he and Ezra are both used to doing more work by this point in their lives than most sane people could possibly handle, they rarely ever get to see eachother anymore outside of very occasionally on the weekends when Ezra's been suckered into playing the little one's den mother at night at get a day of in trade. ("They actually go to sleep for you Bridger, without any fighting! How the kark do you do it? Ezra's straight face reply had been simply 'sedatives, Fyra.')

"Has he started actualy snapping at the kids, to or has he not hit that wall yet?"

"No, but he's been snapping at Fyra pretty much on the regular over the past several days."

"Rex everybody snaps at Fyra. She's an asshole around Ezra five days out of ten."

"Not so much anymore. She's actually taken to bringing his favorite cookies and donuts most of the time to post pt staff meetings. She's just still a little occassionally pissed that Ezra wouldn't give her the date that she wanted upon their first meeting."

"Fyra doesn't have dates Rex, she has conquests. And Ezra, as he's already told her no less than six times at this point, is very VERY not interested in being one of them."

"Mabe so, but I'm telling you Kanan, she's mostly just worried about Ezra at this point, and his ongoing apparent isolation. You know how people from her home planet feel regarding their celebration of faith through sex - not to mentions the lots and lots of younglings that tend to come with it as what she terms appropriate 'penance.' She clearly thinks right now that Ezra needs to find himself a partner - hopefully sooner rather then later, and start having lots of babies of his own considering how much he likes them. 'Because anyone that good with sprogs needs a bunch of their own just to outnumber the assholes currently in parenting' I believe was the way that she put it." Rex's voice is very, very dry as he shares this.

"Rex, half of the kids under eight currently enrolled at the school have repeated insistantly that they're all going to practice prearranged polygamy and CO-MARRY Ezra justas soon as they can tactically arrange it. I really don't think that he is hurting for kids to spoil when he's feeling lonely at the moment."

"You're just pissed off that he's a baby whisperer, Jarrus, while you are clearly not."

"I do fine when I'm with the younger kids, Rex."

"Sure you do. So long as they are fully potty trained and can talk in reasonably complete sentances."

Kanan scowls at him across the table. "You're absolutely sure he's been sleep walking, again recently, Rex."

The clone trooper nods. "I found him wandering the corridors at three am in nothing but boxers and his pink bunny slippers against just last night."

Kanan winches automatically at the image. He doen't know why Ezra still even has those damn cartoon slippers. He's got them from Kayt at Christmas. As a white elephant gift. They had clearly been meant as a joke, though Ezra claims they're warm aand 'It's not like you ever have to look at them, do you?' "Thank you for cluing me in to all of this, Rex. I promise you that just as soon as I'm done with my next round of classes this afternoon I'll track down and try and talk to him about the actual situation."

"Uhm...that'll be tricky, Kanan I'm guessing. Since as you clearly haven't heard yet in another fifteen to thirty minutes Ezra's going to be leaving planet for a few days."

"He's what!?"

"You definitely haven't already heard. He and Chopper are apparently borrowing Myran's private shuttle again... headed out toward the southeastern sector of the Kaber Belt . He confirmed at least that much to me personally late last night when I agreed to take his classes for him while he was gone. He said then that he's guessing he'll probably be back at latest sometime thurdays or friday morning."

"And he's going there where exactly, again?"

"Judging by the pack that he was throwing together when we talked, I'm guessing he's probably head out munchkin hunting again. I have no clue at all at this point how he so reliably does it but no one even bothers to ask him anymore - much less try and stop him when he takes off on one of these impromptu trip. Not after the last time around when he brought back both Ellis and both of the twins=. He was saying something as he packed up this morning about going to either Praxis 8 or 11."

Kanan rises to his feet then, softly cursing under his breath and reaching for his comm in his right front trouser pocket and opening up a channel to Kayt asking her to study hall all his classes for the next few days as well, glad that even all this time spent teaching hadn't broken him of his habit of keeping his saber always on him

Because Chopper, *does not count* as and acceptable +1 for Ezra during his crazy little creche master scavenger hunts and his former Padawan already knows that, especially not when Ezra's headed into and Inquistor heavy system like the Praxis one is.

Kid quests after all, tend to make Ezra impulsive, distractable and sometimes crazy reckless. Traits that are only complicated still further by the addition of small, usually terrified children and, half the time at minimum - one or more Inquisitors or Storm Trooper Squadrons just to keep things from getting overly boring.

Which is why Ezra's mandated 'plus ones' on these child retrieval trips are only acceptable if they include a person who can wield either a second light saber or a similarly impressive garrison of normal weapons as part of them.

Which Kanan is clearly going to have to talk to Ezra about when he catches up to him, yet again. Because once again Kanan had forgotten to check his com mail last night when he finally passed out for the night, and therefore he didn't get Ezra's shout out for back up or departure time announcement yet again.

None of which, of course, means Kanan won't still be going karking with.


End file.
